Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray and Francis Picabia
Tuesday 19 February 2008 21:45-22:30 (Radio 3)
Philip Dodd visits a new exhibition at Tate Modern in London with famous artworks by three pioneering figures from 20th century art.
They are Marcel Duchamp, the artist who controversially first displayed a urinal in a gallery; Man Ray, who invented solarised surrealist photography; and the dada poet Francis Picabia.
How and why did these artists become so influential that many would claim they changed the course of art history?
Fountain by Marcel Duchamp
Fountain
Playlist
Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray and Francis Picabia
In Night Waves Philip explores the friendship between three titans of modern art - Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray and Francis Picabia, figures who each did so much to shape its course, whether it was lampooning the pretensions of high art by putting a urinal in a gallery or breaking new ground with the new technology of photography. Philip is joined by critic Sarah Kent and Richard Wentworth at the major exhibition at the Tate Modern in London which celebrates their mutual admiration, and traces how these relationships shaped their creative output.
Duchamp, Man Ray, Picabia is showing at Tate Modern, London from 21 February -26 May 2008
The Cultural Recession
Philip will also be looking into the effect of recession on culture, speaking to the historian Dominic Sandbrook, Professor Richard Evans and Philip Coggan of the Economist. Looking to the past, as well as to examples abroad, and into the future, he asks if an economic downturn creates a culture of austerity or drives us to decadent escapism?
Tyler Brule
Tyler Brule is the founder of Wallpaper magazine and one of the most influential figures in design and creative business. He talks to Philip to mark the first anniversary of the magazine Monocle.
